1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lunch box, and more particularly to a lunch box for storing and transporting food in such a manner that it will not spill or comingle. The lunch box can have attachable elements that allow the lunch box to be customized to the individual owner. The lunch box can be made of a durable material and used repeatedly, for example reducing waste associated with disposable food containers. The lunch box may be used on a daily basis for taking food to school, work, and other destinations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lunch boxes as containers for transporting food have been used in many cultures for now hundreds of years. Many lunch boxes have been comprised of metal such as stamped tin, stainless steel or folded aluminum. Lunch boxes have been used to transport all variety of meals for consumption at the worksite, at school or on other outings away from a household kitchen or restaurant.
The conventional structure of a lunch box is that of a container for storing food therein with a hinged lid that closes the lower portion of the container and secures the contents. Other variants of this same type of container may have separate, individual containers that nest inside of the larger lunch box body and have independently closed lids that secure the food contents.
Since the mid-1970's the use of plastic polymers has changed the design and construction of lunch boxes significantly. Many of the individual compartments used for food storage are molded directly into the body of the lunch box and the hinged lid is often an integral element to the entirety of the assembly. This type of polymer construction also tends to present a less durable product that often breaks after less than a year's use. In addition to simple plastic lunch boxes there have also been many attempts to add features and capabilities to the common lunch box, these include the addition of a heating or warming element to the box itself to warm one's meal, the addition of cooling elements and insulation to keep foodstuffs fresh, and the use of transparent materials to allow for easy identification of contents.
Current lunch boxes, whether metal or plastic, present some challenges for the typical user especially when that user is a child or adolescent. The desire to personalize a product is commonplace for personal items carried and used by children. This desire to personalize or customize often manifests itself in the application of stickers to ones lunch box or creative coloring or through the use of a carrying bag that shows a beloved movie or storybook character. Indeed many children's movie promotion campaigns will even include the design and manufacture of customized lunch boxes to promulgate the characters in the film. Thus the need for personalization of lunch boxes is well known and clearly demonstrated in the marketplace. Another challenge to the users of common lunch boxes is the containment of liquid foods within the lunch box itself. Several designs exist for separate soup or liquid food containers. These often have threaded lids with integral seals and may also have insulated walls to keep contents hot or cold throughout the day. These purpose specific containers are often quite bulky and expensive and seemingly overly complex for the simple transport of a liquid food such as yogurt or salad dressing. This gives rise to a second important shortcoming of commercially available lunch boxes which is the lack of simple means for liquid food containment.
Therefore, a lunch box to transport and store food while reducing the likelihood of the food comingling combined with ability to customize the container to the individuals tastes is desired.